Human
by FanNotANerd
Summary: The drive to become better; the drive to succeed; the inherent desire to be closer to perfection than anyone else. That is possibly the most human thing of all.
1. Bloody Fangs

**Quick author's note here. This story is rated M for a very good reason. (Not lemons or anything. Sickos.) Just lots and lots of gory violence. Yay! (Author is not responsible for any mental trauma caused by reading this story)**

She had always been perfect. Flawless in every regard.

Ever since Lord Nergal had created her, birthed her from the same quintessence she was charged with collecting, she had known it. She was his most trusted servant, and had never given him reason to suspect otherwise. Even that worthless puppet Limstella couldn't come close to her power.

And Ephidel…where was that lout's power now? Destroyed with the collapse of the Dragon's Gate.

"Sonia, are you coming?"

Sonia gritted her teeth. "Just a moment, Brendan, my beloved." How he sickened her. Weak and pathetic, just like that disgusting Nino. He didn't even hold the Black Fang in the tyrant's grasp it needed.

"Meet me at the throne," she said. She needed some time alone. To think, and plan.

She warped herself to the hall in the center of the Water Temple, ignoring his protests.

The throne stood in front of her, a magnificent work that suited a being of her status. Sonia sank into it with a luxuriant sigh, savouring the few minutes she would have before her husband arrived.

She idly checked the ensorcelled dagger concealed in her blouse, making sure the runes on the surface were unbroken. It was a personal acquisition, taken off a traveling mage who had refused to share his fire. Sonia had been on a mission to assassinate an important figure…who's name currently escaped her. Torturing the mage had provided a few hours of entertainment, and rewarded her with this blade.

She glanced up at a noise, sheathing it. What she saw made her face twist into a grimace.

"Sonia."

"Limstella."

"I have just met with Lord Nerglal."

"Have you now?" Sonia sneered, folding her arms. "I'm surprised he decided to grace you with his prescence."

The morph ignored the insult, as she always did. "I have been told your task is not yet complete."

Sonia glared at the morph. "I would have killed him long ago if it weren't for the Black Fang's incompetence. Do not think for a second that I underestimated him."

"Nergal grows impatient."

"Do not question me, puppet! The men I sent to kill him failed because of their own ineptitude."

"Lord Nergal did not seem to think that."

"Silence, wretch!" Sonia screeched. "I know perfectly well what Lord Nergal thinks! Eliwood and his friends will die, by my hand if necessary!"

The answer seemed to satisfy the puppet. "Where is your husband?"

Sonia shuddered. "Don't call him that. He's my _tool_. I control the Black Fang through him. I am _not_ married to that man."

Limstella shrugged. "As you say."

Sonia's eyes narrowed. "If I didn't know better, I would say that is impudence I detect in your words. Watch your tongue when in the presence of a higher being, _puppet."_

"I meant no insult," Limstella said in that same flat tone. "You make a very convincing show of it. Now, about Eliwood-"

"Sonia?"

Both morphs froze. Brendan Reed appeared at the entrance to the hall, panting slightly. It seemed he'd jogged all the way. "Sonia, who are you talking-"

He cast a suspicious look at Limstella. "Who is this?"

Sonia's face twisted in anger. "I told you to stay behind."

Brendan glowered at her. "I think I have a right to know what my wife is doing every now and then."

"Your wife," Sonia snorted. "Ha! Don't make me laugh."

It took a moment for the message to sink in. Then Brendan recoiled in shock. "You…"

"I only got close to you to take control of the Black Fang," Sonia sneered. "Every caress…every word I whispered in your ear…it was loathsome!"

The warrior seemed frozen with shock. "I thought…you…"

"You thought what?" Sonia spat. "I never loved you. It was a tactical move, which worked to my advantage."

She swept her arm in an all-encompassing gesture. "On your way here, did you happen to notice any familiar faces? No? I've been replacing them, one by one. Their loyalty lies with _me_."

The aged warrior seemed to sag in defeat. "So," he said quietly. "You've betrayed me."

"Of course I have!" Sonia shrieked. "Did you honestly think I would ever love you? It was all for Lord Nergal."

Brendan met her gaze, rage burning in his eyes. "You monster."

Sonia laughed. "Monster, am I? Says the man who stood by and let his son die, while he stayed in the bedroom with his _monstrous _wife!"

Brendan unslung his axe and charged at her with a roar. Sonia easily sidestepped the attack, unsheathing her dagger. "Die for me now, will you?"

She easily ducked under his next swing and slammed the knife into his ribcage. "Die for your beloved wife!"

Brendan staggered backwards, blood pouring down his front. "Lloyd…Linus…" he gasped. "Forgive your…foolish…father…"

He sank to the floor, the carpet underneath him turning black with his blood. Sonia watched him with a cruel smile twisting her lips. She bent down in front of him until their faces were an inch apart. "Do you feel it?" she asked, staring into his glazing eyes. "The hopelessness? The utter agony that comes with losing everything you loved?"

Brendan made a strangled sound, yanked the knife from his chest and rammed it into Sonia's abdomen. Sonia grunted, staggering back, as his hate-filled eyes tracked off her and onto the floor. An instant later, the light in them faded.

Sonia pulled the knife from her stomach, grunting in pain. "You couldn't just die, could you?" she spat. "The leader of the Black Fang to the very end."

Limstella knelt beside Brendan's corpse. "What magnificent essence," the puppet said. "I will deliver it to Lord Nergal at once."

"Be sure to tell him it was I who killed Brendan!" Sonia said. "I won't have you taking credit."

She closed her eyes and wavered slightly. The sorcery in the blade was already taking effect. She needed tomes…counter spells…

She opened her eyes. Limstella had said something.

"I'm sorry?"

"You have been injured," Limstella repeated. "Shall I take over for you?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Sonia sneered. "You think I would let a creature like you take the glory that is rightfully mine? I am a perfect being! You are a worthless abomination."

Limstella said nothing, and vanished.

Sonia snorted. Disgusting. She quickly muttered a healing spell, and the gash in her abdomen closed. The sorcery would have to wait until later. She could withstand its effects for a while.

She glanced up, frowning. Someone had just dashed off to the entrance of the temple. And the spell she placed at the entrance had just been tripped. Someone – no, it prickled again. _Two_ someone's had just entered.

Sonia scowled, and mouthed the spell to take her to the entrance.

"Nino, you must leave! Sonia is-"

"What were you going to say about me?" Sonia said icily. It was that coward Jan.

"S-Sonia…" he stuttered. He threw his axe down and ran.

"Wretch!" she called. "I'll smoke you out later."

She turned and surveyed the two intruders.

Nino stepped forward. "Mother…" she started.

"Nino," Sonia snapped. "You have failed, and tarnished my reputation."

"But Mother…"

"Shut up!" Sonia snapped. Her gaze flicked to Jaffar. "And Jaffar. I expected better of you. Why didn't you finish the job?"

"Or," she continued, taking a step toward them, "Complete the mission_ I _gave you?"

Jaffar stared back at her, saying nothing.

"I wanted her dead!" Sonia said. "You are the Angel of Death! You killed without pause, but now your hand is stayed by a useless brat?"

"Mother…" Nino whimpered, tears welling in her eyes.

"Silence!" Sonia screeched. "I'm not your mother. Only an imbecile like you would believe that!"

"I'm…not your daughter?"

"Of course not!" Sonia spat. "Your true parents died by my hand. I would have killed you as well, if Lord Nergal didn't think you'd be useful. How wrong he was."

Nino shrank back, trembling. "You lied to me," she said quietly. She jerked her head up and turned her tear-streaked and rage-filled eyes to Sonia. "_You lied to me!_"

"How sad," Sonia cooed. "The penny finally drops. I had the same hopes as Nergal. But you were stupid and useless beyond all reason!"

"No wonder you wanted her dead," Jaffar said. "You are not human."

Sonia recoiled as if stung. "I _am_ human," she hissed. "I am perfect! I had hoped to find my equal in you, but you display the same weakness that so disgusts me."

"Nino has changed me," the assassin replied. "It is not weakness, but kindness. What I have been absent of for far too long."

"Kindness," Sonia spat. "What a worthless concept. You think you are being kind? If you had done as I said, she would have died painlessly. But now I will ensure you both die in agony!"

"I don't think so," Jaffar said, drawing his hooked knives. "For Nino's sake, you must die."

Sonia grinned wryly. "Still the Angel of Death, I see. A shame this angel had to fall."

"I have not fallen," Jaffar said. "I have _ascended._"

Sonia laughed. "How droll! Ascended! Jaffar, you always were the melodramatic one."

Her mirth vanished. "Now prepare to die."

"I won't allow that."

Sonia's eyes widened as her spell pinged once…twice…then more times than she could count. A small army was gathering behind the two traitors, that hated Eliwood at their head.

"Nino!" a Sacae plainswoman called. "We're companions now. Don't go running off on us."

"Do you know how much trouble you could've caused?" an Ostian lord asked. He glared at Sonia. "Although it's nothing compared to what I'll do to _you_."

Sonia met his gaze, grinning cruelly. "Lord Hector, is it? I trust you enjoyed the present I left you. Your little spy."

"You monster!" Hector roared, unlimbering his axe. "I'll make you pay!"

"Hector! Hold!"

A robed figure strode forward. "She wants you to attack. Don't take the bait."

Sonia regarded the figure with feigned disinterest. "So this is the tactician I've heard so much about," she mused. "You've been a thorn in my side ever since you met the prince."

"I try," the tactician replied, brushing imaginary dust off his sleeve.

Sonia scowled. "Very well. You wish to join your fates with theirs."

She vanished in a swirl of robes. "Come to me," she said, her voice amplified by magic. "Come and die."


	2. A Mother's Love

The morph ahead of him died in eerie silence. Eliwood yanked the rapier from the morph's chest, grimacing. There were so many. One platform remained before the temple's main hall, where Sonia waited, but morphs boiled out of staircases from the network of catacombs below the temple. They couldn't advance without eliminating them, and they just kept _coming_.

Eliwood ducked under the next morph's swing, slicing into the morph's abdomen with his_ main gauche._ The small knife opened a massive rent in the morph's stomach, sending its intestines spilling onto the floor.

He pushed past the dying morph and engaged the next one, his rapier waving a protective net of steel around his body. The entire time, Sonia continued to taunt them, watching them fight without lifting a finger.

To his left, Jaffar traded blows with a morph twice his size, easily avoiding its massive axe to hack at it with his knives. Steel flickered, and the giant collapsed, blood pouring from the rent in its neck.

To his right, Lyn and Guy held the next staircase their swords flashing in near-perfect form. Bodies were already piled around them, their swords flinging arcs of blood into the water, which had already turned a shade of maroon.

Hector and Rath held the staircase to the left. Heath and the pegasus knights were nowhere to be found, engaged in some distant corner of the temple.

Not one had escaped injury. Serra and Priscilla had so exhausted themselves that they now only healed life-threatening injuries.

"Eliwood! Watch out!"

Eliwood jerked his attention back to the battle in time to avoid a javelin that flew from Lyn's staircase. Already her sword was chopping into the morph's neck, separating its head from its shoulders.

Sonia's laughter echoed through the temple. "Hurry to your deaths. I grow weary of this stalemate."

"The only death I hurry to is yours!" Hector yelled, swinging his axe. The morph in front of him fell, stump of one leg twitching feebly. Roaring, he drew a sword and slashed wildly at the next morph, the curved blade hacking into the side of its ribcage, through its scapula, and out its back in an explosion of blood and bone.

"Hector!" the tactician yelled. "Calm yourself! Withdraw to the second rank. Hawkeye, advance! Take his place!"

"I won't take orders from you!" Hector bellowed back, cutting down another morph. His axe split the morph's head in half, flinging bits of bone and brain halfway across the platform.

The tactician nodded to Hawkeye. The desert warrior strode forward and pushed Hector to the side. "Fall back," he growled.

Hector took a deep breath through his nose and complied, fighting down his rage. The tactician continued to shout orders, putting the ragtag bunch into a complex attack-and-retreat strategy.

Eliwood glanced around. For every morph that fell, another ran up to take its place. He realized with a sinking heart that the only way to stop them was to literally clog the staircases with bodies.

Kent charged past him on his warhorse, blocking the staircase. He met Eliwood's gaze and nodded, readying his lance for the next morph. Eliwood nodded back and withdrew, casting a wary eye at the morphs massing on the adjacent platform. Luckily, none of them had bows. Yet.

"How goes it?" he asked the tactician.

The robed figure shook his head. "Unless the pegasus knights get back here, we're in trouble."

Eliwood nodded. "I was afraid you'd say that."

He glanced at the adjacent platform. The waters were already beginning to bubble, signaling the arrival of the bridge that would link the two. "At least we'll go down fighting."

The tactician shrugged. "I would prefer to avoid-"

Several things happened at once. An arrow flashed from the other platform and struck the tactician on the shoulder. The bridge connecting the two rose out of the water, and the massed morphs charged. And Erk stepped forward, hand glowing with a nimbus of power.

"Erk!" Eliwood yelled. "What are you doing?"

The mage ignored him, chanting words of power. An electric blue aura began to surround him, and his robe fluttered as if blown by an invisible wind. He slowly looked over and met Eliwood's eyes.

And smiled.

He thrust his palm out and spoke the last syllable, and the front ranks disappeared in an inferno. Eliwood cried out and turned away from the heat, and so didn't notice the morph charging out of the flames.

The morph was hideously burnt, flesh blackened and peeling away from its bones, but still it came. Erk stepped backwards, uncertainty flashing through his eyes.

Blackened steel swept through the air. "No!" Eliwood yelled. Erk stumbled backwards, screaming, clutching the stump of his severed arm. Deep red blood spurted through his fingers, mixing with the blood on the floor.

Eliwood thrust forward, catching the morph in the neck. Erk collapsed to the floor, face going white from shock.

"Medic!" Eliwood screamed. Serra appeared at his side, her hands already glowing with power.

"Oh, Gods," she whispered, pressing her hands to the wound. "Erk…your arm…"

"Lord Pent…" he mumbled, delirious with pain. "I was not a worthy…student…after all…"

"Yes you are," Serra said, blinking back tears. "You'll get better."

Eliwood forced himself to look away. The blade had entered an inch from Erk's neck, and sheared at an angle through the right side of his chest. The blow had taken his entire shoulder.

Lyn spun to gain momentum, her sword slicing into the morph's ribcage. It didn't scream, or even utter an involuntary gasp. It died in total, terrifying silence.

Another moved forward, a light lance clutched in its hands. Lyn easily dodged past it and severed its lance arm at the elbow.

It barely spared the bleeding stump a glance, and bent to retrieve the lance, as if the loss of an arm was merely an inconvenience. Lyn made a sound of revulsion and stabbed it in the heart, ending its horrific existence.

A small lull followed. Lyn glanced around the platform, painfully aware that the battle wasn't going well.

Her head snapped upward at a bone-jarring shriek from above. Draconian shapes circled above the platform, slowly spiraling down for the kill. A warning shout from Guy drew her gaze back to the staircase, where a half-dozen more morphs were gathering.

Lyn's eyes met Guy's. "Do not falter. We are of the Sacae." A quaver in her voice betrayed her fear.

Guy shook his head. "Doesn't mean much now, does it?"

Lyn blinked away a tear of hopelessness and took a guard stance, knowing full well that this would be her final stand.

The wyverns above screeched as their riders spurred them into a dive. None of them noticed as one banked off to the left, approaching another. The human rider noticed him at the last second. "What the hell are you-"

The rogue rider's lance cut him off. As if that were a signal, three flashes of white rocketed through the squad of wyverns, leaving plummeting corpses in their wake.

Lyn returned her attention to the battle just in time to parry a morph's overhand swing. She ended the encounter with a cut across the stomach and beheaded the next before it even had a chance to react. A cloud of misted blood surrounded Guy as he cut through the rest.

Lyn planted her feet, waiting for the next morph to come out. None came. After a few tense moments, the Sacae plainswoman finally relaxed and let her sword angle toward the floor.

A fluttering of feathers, and a winged horse landed in front of her. Lyn directed a tired look at the rider. "What took you?"

Fiora winced in apology. "We ran into a squadron of druids and thought it would be best to dispatch them."

"Well, at least you came," Lyn said, looking up at the last surviving wyvern rider, who was slowly circling down to meet them.

"Well met, Heath," she said when it landed. The green-haired rider inclined his head in response.

"Erk!" Serra yelled, cupping his face. She couldn't stop the bleeding. No matter how much power she poured into it, it wouldn't stop. "Look at me! _Look at me!_"

Eliwood slowly turned back. Erk's face was a deathly gray, and the flow of blood from his arm had slowed to a trickle.

"Serra," he said quietly.

"No! He can't be dead! I won't let him!"

Eliwood looked around. The battle was more or less over. The flow of morphs from the staircases had finally ceased, and Erk's attack had wiped out everything on the other platform. Its marble surface was scoured black, marred every now and then by a pile of charred bones.

"Eliwood…"

He glanced over, where the tactician was getting up, the arrow still jutting from his shoulder. "We have to move on."

Eliwood nodded. This was just another crime Sonia and Nergal had to answer for.

"I see my morphs failed. That is unfortunate."

The tactician glared at the main hall of the temple. "You might provide some sport after all," Sonia's voice continued.

Eliwood spotted movement. Jaffar was moving. "Jaffar!" the tactician yelled. "Stop!"

"She dies now," the assassin responded. "Her life is mine."

"Jaffar, wait!" Nino cried, hurrying after him.

The tactician paused for a moment. A unit disobeying a command was something new to him. He simply watched as Nino grabbed Jaffar's arm, gabbled a spell, and vanished.

That seemed to snap him back into focus. "Fiora! Sain! Go after them!"

The pegasus knight turned, surprised. "Go after-"

Her eyes widened as she noticed Nino and Jaffar's absence. "Right."

"Hawkeye! Go with Fiora. Lyn! Go with Sain."

Sain grinned widely. "Ah, to ride with not one, but two beauteous maidens! Fate truly has smiled on me this day!"

He looked over at Fiora. "But I would not think to go without the favour of my lovely Fiora!"

"Sain," she said.

Sain's smile slipped for a moment as the rebuke struck. "Yes. Duty calls. Come, Lady Lyndis! We ride to glory!"

Kent, who had been watching the proceedings without a word, finally spoke. "Lyn," he said.

Lyn blinked. He had called her Lyn. Not mi'lady, Lady Lyndis, or any other honorific. Just Lyn. "Yes?"

The knight was silent for a long moment. "Be careful," he finally said.

Lyn nodded and hopped onto Sain's horse, and almost fell off when he thrust his sword forward and spurred it into a wild gallop.

Kent gently pinched the bridge of his nose. _Oh, Sain._

Fiora sighed as she watched the paladin ride off. "Hop on," she said to Hawkeye.

The massive desert warrior hesitantly mounted the winged horse. "Go," he said. "Before I change my mind."

"You asked for it," Fiora muttered. "Hyah!"

Her mount responded instantly and rocketed into the air.

The tactician watched her go. A flame-haired woman rode up beside him on a roan horse. "Priscilla," the tactician said. "I don't know what Sonia is capable of. The last thing I want to do is underestimate her."

He paused for a moment. "Go with them, but don't put yourself in danger."

Priscilla nodded and rode off.

The tactician looked toward the hall in the distance. _The only thing left is to pray I did enough._

Fiora directed the pegasus with subtle shifts in weight, rising quickly to a comfortable altitude of a hundred feet. Once again, Fiora marveled at the construction of the temple. It was massive, and somehow completely enclosed by a vaulted ceiling hundreds of feet in the air. The architecture defied logic itself, and smacked of sorcery.

A screech to her left interrupted her thoughts. Fiora swore as she saw a wing of wyvern riders approaching from the distance.

"Don't worry," Hawkeye rumbled behind her. "I will take care of them."

Fiora glanced back just long enough to register that he was pulling a hand axe from his belt, and so was unprepared when he stood up on the horse's back, thrust the axe in the air, and howled a ululating war cry.

"Are you insane?" Fiora yelled.

"I fear nothing," the giant replied, hurling the throwing axe. It spun through the air and slammed into the chest of the closest rider, knocking him from the saddle. Without direction, the wyvern spread its wings and descended to the floor.

Fiora hunched closer to her mount's back, praying to all the gods that may or may not exist that Hawkeye's stunt wouldn't get them both killed.

The desert warrior howled and swung his massive axe, sending a draconian head flying from its neck. The human rider screamed all the way down. The remaining three wisely kept their distance, and even more wisely broke for the exit.

Hawkeye huffed, satisfied, and sat back down, sliding his axe into the harness at his back.

Fiora didn't even glance back. "It may have just been easier to outmaneuver them," she said.

Hawkeye smiled slightly. "And where would be the fun in that?"

Sonia's lips curled in distaste as her trusted assassin and that useless whelp appeared in front of her. "So," she said. "Your friends insisted they help you, yet you came alone. Do you not trust them to be of any use?"

"Sonia," Jaffar responded. "It is not you who may pass Black Fang judgment on us. For the misuse of the skills of the Four Fangs and the murder of Brendan Reed, I sentence you to death."

"And I assume you are to be the executioner?" Sonia asked.

"Here I come," Jaffar intoned, unsheathing his knives.

He darted forward with shocking speed. Most others wouldn't even have time to react.

As it was, Sonia merely tutted and gestured, releasing the spell she'd been holding. Jaffar's charge slowed, than stopped entirely, a golden aura surrounding him as the arcane defenses woven into his clothing flared to life.

They only held for a moment under the sorcerous barrage, then Jaffar was thrown back in a spray of blood, flesh and bone splitting indiscriminately. He flew back nearly ten feet, landed hard, and lay unmoving.

"Jaffar!" Nino yelled.

Sonia laughed. "All too easy. How long do you plan to last against me?"

"You would kill your own daughter?" Nino spat.

"I never loved you!" Sonia snarled. "You were nothing but a small necessity. I would have eliminated you earlier, but it seemed you charmed everyone you met. Including my Angel of Death!"

"I loved you once," Nino said quietly.

"A mistake on your part," Sonia said, raising a hand. A moment later a sorcerous wave spat from her hand, chewing up the stone floor as it sped toward the green-haired mage.

Nino frantically gabbled a shield-spell just before the wave struck. The wave slammed against her hastily erected barrier, throwing a plume of dust into the air as the sorcery destroyed everything around her.

When the dust cleared, Nino was still whole, although somewhat glassy-eyed.

Sonia raised an eyebrow. "Impressive. I will allow you to counterattack."

Nino straightened, brushing a lock of hair out of her eye. Although she'd never show it, the spell had taken a lot out of her. She grimaced slightly, then unleashed a spell of her own.

A jet of fire rose from the floor, surrounding Sonia in a hideous conflagration. The morph was barely visible as a shadowed shape through the flames.

Sonia gestured, and the pillar of flame vanished was swept to the side and extinguished. Nino staggered as the flow of power was severed, tendrils of magic backlashing against her mind.

"Is that the best you can do?" Sonia sneered.

Nino took a breath, and cast a second spell. Arcs of lightning erupted from the floor around the morph – Nino could no longer stand to call it her mother – as if to skewer it. A moment before spearing Sonia, the bolts struck the High Wards surrounding Sonia's body and rebounded in all directions.

Most flew to the sides, punching melon-sized holes in the walls of the hall, but three ricocheted directly back at Nino.

Nino yelped in surprise and just barely managed to throw up a barrier in time. The spears of lightning crashed against the barrier with a thunderous blast, shaking the pillars around the throne. When the smoke cleared, Nino was swaying on her feet, nearly overcome with exhaustion. Too many spells in too short a time. Sonia, of course, seemed unaffected.

"So you fail at this," she said, "As you failed at everything else."

Nino gritted her teeth. She forced herself to stand up straight, until she was able to look Sonia in the eye.

Sonia huffed and began gesturing for another spell. Nino quickly surrounded herself with the strongest wards she could, and braced for the next attack.

It came with frightening ferocity. A bolt of necrous energy rocketed from Sonia's outstretched hand and struck Nino's wards with a hideous screeching sound. The jet-black plasm exploded and flew in all directions, pitting the stone where it touched.

Nino winced involuntarily as most of her wards collapsed under the assault. The magic Sonia was using was unlike anything Nino had ever seen before.

Nino clumsily rebuilt her wards, uncaring that several of them unraveled as she formed them. There wasn't much she could do about it at any rate.

She realized with a start that the morph wasn't doing anything while she recovered. Sonia was _toying_ with her. Making her think she had a fighting chance, so defeat would be all the more painful.

However much the discovery incensed her, her exhausted will could only call up the faintest flicker of a response.

She held herself firm, despite her body's screaming desire to sink to the floor and accept its fate. She would not give in. She might be about to die, but she would die on her feet.


	3. Hollow Victory

Lyn hung grimly onto Sain's back as his warhorse galloped forward. Ordinarily, she would have complained about the speed. She liked the way Kent rode so much nicer, and she was quite convinced Sain's warhorse hated her.

As it was, she stayed silent. Time was of the essence. For all they knew, Nino and Jaffar could be fighting for their lives right-

Sain abruptly yanked on the reins, causing his horse to rear and whinny in protest. Lyn grabbed onto his shoulders to stay on, her train of thought interrupted. "Would you mind telling me why you did that?" she snarled.

Sain twisted around in the saddle without answering and deposited her on the floor. Lyn looked up at him in shock. "What are you-"

"I apologize, Lady Lyndis," Sain said. "But I believe it to be too dangerous for you. My chivalric vows demand that I keep you safe, and keep you safe I shall!"

Lyn raised an eyebrow. "By dropping me in the middle of the temple?"

"I judge it to be safer here than with Sonia!" he declared.

"Sain, need I remind you how many times I have saved your life?"

"Inconsequential, my dear Lyndis! Now I ride forth, to vanquish the enemy!"

He wheeled his horse around and spurred it into a gallop. "Sain!" Lyn called at his receding back. When he didn't respond, she muttered a Sacae curse under her breath and ran after him.

Sonia grinned as she took in the girl's exhaustion. She was powerful, and quite skilled, but her frail body could only do so much. Sonia, however, was perfect. Exhaustion meant nothing to her.

Her grin turned into a sneer as she drew her incredible power together into a spell that would utterly destroy the brat. She was about to release the spell when a flash of white obscured her vision.

Sonia barely had time to register that it was a pegasus knight before a lance drove into her chest. It halted millimeters away from her skin, stopped by one of her wards, but the impact still threw her backwards in a most undignified manner.

The pegasus knight circled back around, pausing for a moment to drop off a huge desert warrior, who unlimbered a fearsome axe and started toward her.

Sonia quickly clambered to her feet, thoroughly annoyed. How _dare_ they interrupt her?

She gritted her teeth and stabbed out with magic at the pegasus knight. Although conventional spells failed against them, this spell didn't strike directly. It merely pushed the surrounding air at it, effectively blasting it out of the hall.

That problem taken care of, Sonia turned her attention to the desert warrior. He stared back at her, hefting the axe.

"People like you won't be allowed to survive in the new world," she sneered. "Only perfect people. People like me!"

She stabbed out with power, a spell that should have reduced the warrior to a smoking husk. Instead, it rebounded, turning the floor and nearby wall to slag.

Sonia scowled, realizing the giant had protective charms _tattooed_ into his skin, which were now deflecting her spells.

"Clever," she said, lashing out again.

"Hawkeye!" a green-armored knight called. "I'm coming to help!"

"No! the giant shouted back. "This is my fight! Protect the others!"

"Foolish," Sonia said. "You think you can defeat me on your own?"

The desert warrior spun his axe as though it were a toy. "I can try."

Sain halted his horse beside Nino, who was now crouched beside Jaffar. He glanced over, and immediately wished he hadn't. The assassin's body was a torn ruin, yet his chest still rose and fell.

He dismounted and tapped Nino on the shoulder. "Come, Nino. You've done enough."

The girl shook her head. "Not yet."

The clopping of hooves behind him drew his attention. He looked behind, to see Priscilla dismount, a healing staff already clutched in her hands.

"Ah, Priscilla," he said, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Just in time. It seems Jaffar has been wounded."

The healer gave him an odd look. "I would expect you to be fighting with Hawkeye."

Sain's smile slipped. "Yes, well, I have decided I would be put to better use protecting you and Nino from harm. He also told me not to interfere, and I have no intention of crossing him." What he didn't mention was that he had neglected to add magical defenses to his armor, and was more than a little wary of the magic the morph wielded.

Nino looked over, swaying slightly. "Are you a healer?" she asked.

"Yes, I am," Priscilla said. "Everything will be all right now."

"Please," Nino begged. "Save him."

Priscilla knelt beside Jaffar, sucking in a breath when she saw his injuries. "Can you help him?" Nino asked.

"I…I don't know," Priscilla stammered, laying her hands on Jaffar's chest. "There's so much…"

She jerked as strength suddenly flowed into her. She looked up, into Nino's closed eyes. The girl had laid a hand on her shoulder, and was channeling what remained of her strength into her.

"Nino," Priscilla said.

The girl shook her head slightly, then collapsed. Sain was immediately at her side, and lifted her onto his horse. Priscilla clenched her hands into fists, and then relaxed them. She would make it worth it.

She took a deep breath, laid her hand on Jaffar's brow, and released the pent-up energy. Jaffar jerked, eyes moving wildly under the lids. He stared thrashing, a low moan escaping from his lips, as his wounds began to knit.

In a few moments, it was done. Priscilla sat back, exhausted, Jaffar's flesh now whole.

The assassin groaned, and opened his eyes, focusing on Priscilla. "You're not Nino," he mumbled. "I thought…she…"

He tried to raise his head, but his muscles weren't ready to move yet. "Nino?" he gasped.

"She's safe," Sain said.

Jaffar's eyebrows met. "Sonia. Have to kill…Sonia."

Sain looked up. "Hawkeye seems to be doing a fair job."

Sain glanced back at Priscilla, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead. Then he turned his gaze back to the one-sided battle raging not twenty feet away. Just one stray bolt…

He shuddered. Even if he risks were great, he would stand his ground. _Besides,_ he thought, _what a tale this will make over a mug of ale._

"Come, Priscilla," he said, lifting Jaffar's feebly struggling body onto the healer's horse. "Here is not the place for a woman of your beauty."

Priscilla blushed and took hold of her horse's reins, turning them into a makeshift lead. Sain tugged his own warhorse along, but stopped, frowning.

Priscilla looked over at him. "Sain, may I ask what you are doing?"

"Nothing, my dear," he said, voice jumping half an octave in nervousness. "I just…"

There. A shimmer in the air, like the haze over a desert. He slowly walked forward, feeling the air with his outstretched hand. Which encountered a barrier of some sort.

Sain rapped on the barrier, producing a hollow _clonk_ sound. "That's a problem," he remarked.

Sonia grimaced and slammed another fist of magic into the warrior. Hammer blows of power were slamming into him, rebounding and smashing into the walls, sending stone shrapnel in every direction. The hall was being demolished around them, but the warrior continued to inch forward, despite the hideous wounds that were now appearing on his exposed chest.

Sonia raised a hand, and dozens of spikes of ice formed around her, then sped toward the berserker. Most shattered as what were left of his tattooed wards deflected the magic, but several sped through, scoring deep trenches through his chest and breaking several more tattoos.

The desert warrior grunted, the first sound Sonia had heard him make, and managed to close the distance between them with one last stride. He raised his axe, ignoring the tendrils of energy lancing into him, roared, and brought it down.

The axe struck Sonia's wards with a bell-like peal and shattered, the metal disintegrating into thousands of tiny flecks of steel. Sonia flinched involuntarily as her wards collapsed entirely, leaving her completely unprotected. The giant seemed to sense her weakness and surged forward, trying to brain her with the splintered haft of his axe.

Sonia dodged to the side, lashing out with another conflagration, though taking care to maintain the barrier. Some extra insurance in case the pegasus knight recovered.

"Would you just die?" Sonia spat, lashing out again. The berserker barely even reacted to the attack, and charged again. Sonia bit back an animal growl of rage and solidified the air around the warrior's limbs, freezing him in mid-stride. The few tattoos still whole on his torso sluggishly flared to life, and began eating through the magic. They wouldn't hold for long, but it offered a temporary reprieve.

If you could call a few seconds a reprieve. Before long, Sonia was once again dodging swings of the broken axe handle, despite the fact that the warrior had flesh more flayed than whole.

Lyn ran along the passageway, a light sweat bathing her brow. She could see Sain and a few others ahead, and the distinctive flashes of sorcery farther down. She resumed that was Hawkeye and Fiora. Sonia was clearly putting up a fight.

Sain noticed her when she was about ten feet away. "Lyn! Stop!"

Lyn skidded to a halt, only then noticing the shimmering barrier between them. She performed a quick examination of it, concluding, "This must be Sonia's work."

Sain nodded. "That was my guess."

A wave of sorcery smashed into the floor a meter away from where Sain was standing, peppering him with flecks of stone. The green-armored knight jumped, swearing. "Lady Lyndis, forgive my brusqueness, but we need to think of something. And fast. From the looks of things, Mister Sandman isn't going to last much longer."

Fiora slowly clambered to her feet, dazed. Something had thrown both her and her winged mount halfway across the temple. It was a miracle both hadn't been killed on impact.

The blue-haired rider shook her head to clear it. She had no idea what it was that had hit her, but it hit her _hard._ Probably Sonia.

"Well," she muttered to her winged horse. "Only one thing to do. Try again."

She swung herself onto the horse's back and spurred it into the sky. The lance's impact with Sonia's wards had blunted the steel slightly, but it was still perfectly serviceable.

Fiora leaned forward, signaling the mount to increase its speed. Sonia wouldn't know what had hit her.

Lyn had been tapping at the barrier for a full twenty seconds, and a solution still hadn't occurred to her. Nino and Jaffar were out of commission, and Sain had no magical defenses at all. Sending him in would be tantamount to telling him to fall on his sword.

Priscilla looked up from her staff. Her eyes narrowed. "Is that Fiora?" she asked.

Lyn spun, her eyes widening. A white blot was growing in the distance, slowly resolving into a pegasus knight.

Sain gasped. "If she hits the barrier…"

Lyn swallowed. At those speeds, the result wouldn't be pretty. "Sain!' she barked. "Back!"

She unsheathed the Mani Katti, the end of the blade trembling slightly. _Father Earth, let this work._

Lyn took a breath to calm her nerves, then swung the sword at the barrier.

The spirit-possessed blade flashed as it struck the barrier and broke off two-thirds of the way down. The barrier itself seemed to tear, and simply fall away.

An instant later, Fiora streaked through the gap, lance at the ready. The look in her eyes was that of cold determination.

The axe handle whistled past Sonia's face, so close that she could feel the breath of its passing. She lashed out, securing a whip of raw energy around his weapon arm. The giant pulled mightily, but to no avail. Realizing this, he snarled and grabbed at Sonia, but was just slightly out of reach.

His eyes widened as Sonia began chanting a spell, a circle of blue lightning crackling at her feet.

Sonia grinned as the giant faltered. "I see fear," she said. "Good."

Her hands glowing with power, she stepped forward and placed a palm directly in the center of the desert warrior's chest. Skin, bone and muscle vanished in a bloody explosion, leaving a crater where the berserker's chest used to be.

She released his arm in the same instant, the gesture not one of pity, but more an acknowledgement of the warrior's strength.

The berserker sank to the floor, a mildly confused expression on his face. "Will I never…see home?"

Sonia leaned close. "You could have done great things, Hawkeye of the Nabata Desert. You picked the wrong side."

Something caught Hawkeye's attention. He focused on something over Sonia's left shoulder.

And grinned, even as the light faded from his eyes.

Sonia stepped back, a bolt of fear striking through her. What could he have seen-

Then she saw the pegasus knight. Streaking toward her, now less than ten feet away. Light from the surviving torches flashed off the lance's steel head.

_No,_ Sonia thought.

Then the lance drove through her chest and into the throne behind her, lodging in the wood.

The rider released the lance as her mount streaked past, leaving Sonia pinned like a bug in a collection.

_This can't be happening,_ she thought. _I am perfect. Nergal said so._

She _was_ perfect. This wound was inconsequential. She laid a hand on the lance's shaft. A grunted command, and it turned to ash, leaving the head embedded in the throne.

Sonia collapsed, her legs suddenly failing her. She lifted her head, growling in fury. None would escape. She would kill them all, starting with Nino.

Sonia raised a hand, energy crackling around her palm. The spell released in the form of a fireball, streaking toward the unconscious mage.

When Hawkeye fell, things seemed to go out of focus for Lyn. She couldn't take her eyes away from the…_pit_ in his chest. She could see the broken stubs of his ribs, see his heart still stubbornly beating…

Hawkeye had seemed invincible. An unstoppable pillar of strength. To see him like this…

She barely registered as Fiora streaked past and drove her lance through the morph. Her eyes were still on Hawkeye. The desert warrior's dead eyes were fixed on the spot Fiora had emerged from.

And he was smiling.

_I will avenge you,_ Lyn swore. _I swear it on everything I hold dear. They will pay in blood._

Fiora had managed to slow her mount and circled back to join Lyn and the rest. Still numbed by Hawkeye's death, Lyn was unable to do anything but watch as Sonia did something to the lance and crumpled to the floor.

Her head rose, utter malice written into her features. Her shockingly red lips were drawn back from her teeth in a feral snarl, and sparks of energy played around her outstretched fingers.

But her gaze wasn't focused on Lyn. Or Sain. It was focused on…

"Nino!" Lyn yelled.

Sain glanced at Sonia, just as the fireball leapt from her hand. Without hesitating, he threw himself in front of Nino, shield up and ready.

The fireball passed straight through the shield as if it wasn't even there and detonated against Sain's chest, turning his breastplate into slag and his chest into a smoking ruin.

"_Sain!"_ Fiora screamed.

She leapt off her winged horse and sprinted to his side, heedless of the morph now taking aim at her. She knelt and cradled his head, sobbing his name.

Sonia frowned as the green knight leapt in front of Nino. An utterly foolish and pointless gesture. All he did was prolong the girl's life by a few seconds. Ah, well. She would simply have to dispatch the meddlers first. Jaffar appeared to have regained his feet, although he still seemed in no condition to fight.

She grunted another spell, directing her concentration to the Sacae plainswoman running to the paladin's side. She screamed as bolts of lightning lanced into her body and fell.

Sonia directed her attention to the last meddler: the blue-haired pegasus knight. This one had wounded her. That was a crime for which there was no fit punishment. Death would just have to do.

She was just about to release the magic when an arrow passed through her outstretched hand, spraying her own blood across her face. The flow of magic abruptly stopped as this new pain shattered her concentration.

Sonia looked up, glaring at the Sacae plainswoman. Smoke rose from her clothes, and horrible burns marred her skin, but the bow never wavered. The woman had already drawn another arrow, and held it nocked.

Sonia laughed, the sound turned into a hideous gurgle by the blood in her right lung. "You only prolong the inevitable," she said, grinning with bloodstained teeth. "All of you will die by my hand."

"Well, I can take comfort in the fact that you'll soon join us," the plainswoman snarled.

Sonia frowned. "You deluded fool! I will not die. I am perfect! Perfect beings cannot die!"

"Then why is your body betraying you?" the plainswoman asked, dropping the bow drawing a thin-bladed sword from a sheath on her back. The one at her hip lay empty. "Perfect does not mean immortal."

Sonia chuckled. "Your idiocy is astounding. What use is a perfect being that can succumb to the largest flaw of all? I am a human that has transcended that flaw!"

"Human? Don't make me laugh."

Sonia's laughter was cut short. "I _am_ human," she spat.

"Look at yourself," the plainswoman threw back. "Do you look like humans? Humans cannot simply be created. You are just like all the other morphs. Puppets, created to do your master's bidding."

"No!" Sonia shrieked. "I am human! I am _perfect!"_

"You are dead," Lyn snarled. Her sword swept down in a shimmering arc, cleanly separating the morph's head from her shoulders.

Sonia's view of the hall skewed wildly, and settled on an odd sideways perspective. Then all went dark.

Lyn let her breath out in a quiet whoosh, blood dripping off her backup sword. Sonia's body twitched once, and was still.

She flung the sword beside the corpse, loath to hold it for another second. She slowly walked back over to where Sain lay.

All of his boyish bravado was gone. Sain turned his face toward Lyn, white with pain. "It hurts," he whispered.

"Priscilla," Lyn said quietly, and the healer was there, laying her hands on Sain's ruined chest.

Priscilla grunted in effort, and Sain visibly relaxed. "I'm sorry," she said. "His injuries are too severe. I can only ease his pain."

Lyn blinked away a tear. "It's better than nothing."

Sain smiled up at her. "Lady Lyndis…" he gasped. "I was…so…happy…"

Fiora cupped Sain's face in her hands. "Sain, please. Don't die. I _need_ you!"

"Fiora, my love," he whispered. "Do not grieve for me."

Fiora sniffled. "Bloody stupid thing to say. Don't you see? You're _dying!"_

Sain made a sound that was half sigh, half sob. The pain was coming back again. "Maybe I am. But maybe that is my fate. I…"

He paused to spit out a mouthful of blood. "I'm just glad I met you," he sighed. "When I first saw you…"

Lyn looked away as they tenderly kissed, acutely aware that she was intruding. "I love you," Sain whispered a moment later.

Priscilla tentatively leaned back in, hands glowing. Sain looked over at her, smiling slightly. "Not needed, my beauty. The pain is gone. I…"

He frowned. "I didn't think…it would feel…so…cold…"

"Sain?" Fiora whispered, staring into his slack face. "Sain! _Sain!"_

A pair of arms wrapped around her and lifted her away. She screamed incoherently, an animal howl of grief, beating at the arms that held her.

"He's dead," a voice whispered. "There's nothing any of us can do about it."

Fiora sagged, sobbing. "If it's any consolation," the voice said. "I'm sorry."

The blue-haired rider turned and sneered at the man holding her. "What do apologies mean to you, Jaffar?"

Jaffar turned away. "I saw everything," he said quietly. "He died to save Nino. In a way, it was my fault. I acted rashly, and put all of you in danger."

Fiora said nothing. "I owe a debt that cannot possibly be repaid," the assassin said quietly, directing the words to everyone. "I will not expect anyone to forgive me. Do with me what you will. Just leave Nino."

Lyn drew herself up straight. "Let's go," she said, much more harshly than she intended. "There's nothing left for us here."

"I'm not leaving him," Fiora said quietly.

"I never said you were," Lyn responded. "Hawkeye too. The least we can do is take him home."

They met Eliwood, the tactician, and Kent halfway down the walkway. Eliwood was streaked in blood, ash and grime, his proud demeanor gone.

"Erk's dead," he said without ceremony. "A morph took his arm. Bled to death."

Lyn closed her eyes. Yet another piece gouged out of her heart. "Sain and Hawkeye too," she said, her throat constricting.

Eliwood pinched the bridge of his nose and looked away, blinking back tears. "They did what they had to. It's done."

Kent gaped at her. "Sain?" he whispered. "Dead?"

Lyn put her arms around him. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

"How?" the knight croaked.

"He sacrificed himself to save Nino."

Kent nodded, clenching his jaw. "You had to do that, did you Sain?"

He tore away from Lyn, tears running freely down his face. "Always had to be the fucking hero!"

"Kent," Lyn whispered. "It hurts me, too."

Eliwood walked over and placed a hand on Kent's trembling shoulder. "It hurts all of us," he murmured.

Kent drew himself up straight. "I need a moment," he said.

Lyn made as if to follow him, but Eliwood stopped her. "Let him be," he said.

The plainswoman shook her head. "I don't like seeing him like this."

She looked down at her hands. "I killed her, you know. Sonia. She was defenceless. And I…"

"If you wished to give her mercy, she didn't deserve it."

Lyn fell into step beside him. "The thing that frightened me the most…even when staring death in the face, she insisted she was human. Deep down, I'm sure she knew she was a morph. But…she'd convinced herself."

"She wanted power," Eliwood said. "She wanted to be better than everything else."

"Lust for power," the tactician agreed. "Something you find all too often in this world."

He looked over at Lyn. "Maybe, in that respect, she _was_ human."

"No," Lyn grated. "I will never call her human. It was her one wish, and I will deny it with my dying breath!"

Eliwood sighed. "How's Fiora?"

"Inconsolable."

Eliwood stared straight ahead. "They were lovers. Her and Sain. He let it slip to me after one too many drinks. They were trying to keep it secret."

The tactician swallowed. "If…If I'd known, I never-"

"What's done is done," Eliwood snapped.

Lyn shook her head. "I will never forgive Nergal for what he has done. For his sake, I hope it is not I who deals the final blow."

She looked at Eliwood with a surprising amount of hatred burning in her eyes. "Because I will not make it quick or easy. He will suffer for every second of the lives he stole."

Eliwood wrapped his arms around her and held her as she sobbed into his shoulder.

Long after the group had gone, a figure appeared in the hall. It dispassionately surveyed Sonia's headless body with a pair of golden eyes.

"Nergal will not be pleased," it said. "Too bad I cannot extract your essence. After all, puppets have no essence to harvest."

The morph stooped, examining a patch of blood on the floor. A person had died here. The essence was still intact, and harvestable.

The morph dipped a finger in the blood, examined it closely. A pale tongue snaked out and tasted it.

"What excellent quintessence," the morph breathed. "This will soften Sonia's loss."

Limstella stood, and drew the spilled quintessence in the area into her. She could feel who it once was. A desert warrior, fierce and proud. A knight, cocky, arrogant but possessing great bravery. One would feed Nergal's appetite for weeks. But both…

"So much," she whispered to Sonia's body. "An excellent harvest indeed, my fellow morph."

**END**

**You know what? I have no idea what this is. I'm thinking it's a tribute of some kind to Sonia, but I really don't know. Sonia's just one of those characters you love to hate, so I decided to really wreck her.**

**When I look back on it, this is begging to be made into a full story instead of just a threeshot vignette, but I've already got one project on the go. That, and I simply don't have enough material.**

**So, thanks for reading. Review if you want (I appreciate the feedback) and I'll most likely respond. **

**Nerd out!**


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